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Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Mekong River Cruise @ Vietnam

Let me continue my travelogue about my journey to Vietnam. We are now on our second day and we were scheduled to go to Mekong River. Let me give you a brief background first about this historical tourist destination...

The Mekong River is the longest river in the Southeast Asian region. It is 2,700 miles (or 4,350 kilometers) and flows through through China, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Does this mean I've practically been to the tips of these wonderful countries? Hehehe.

Anyway, the brown water-ways of the Mekong serve as the region's foremost conduit for their local transportation and trade. It is also known as the Lancang River in China, which is considered to be the heart and soul of mainland Southeast Asia. There are more than 60 million people who depend on the river and its tributaries for supplies of food, water, transport and a lot of other aspects of their daily lives. The Mekong river supports one of the world’s most diverse fisheries, and is second only to Brazil’s Amazon River. How amazing is this? And I'm so happy that I've been here and experienced it all.

Mekong River is at the southern part of Ho Chi Minh. Here's a video Jem took while we were riding the bus going there:

Finally, after an hour or so, we got here at the docking station. This is the place where I bought my Vietnamese hat. Had I been a lot thinner, people could've mistaken me to be one of the locals. Teehee.

We rode these boats on the way to the narrower parts of the river. Since Mekong River is the longest river in Southeast Asia, the 7th longest in Asia, and the 12th longest in the world, it took some time before we got to the most exciting part.

Watch this video Jem took while we were riding this bigger boat:

After lunch, we took a walk heading to the docking station of the bancas. It was a good way to burn some calories as the walk was a bit long.

I think after about 10-15 mins., we already saw a glimpse of these bancas and tourists were already falling in line, waiting their turns to take a ride.

.Then it was our turn to ride the banca!

Watch this video Jem took while we were riding one of these little boats:

It was such a wonderful experience being able to tour one of the longest rivers in Asia. Jem and I truly had fun being with the locals. We were so amazed to see women manning and maneuvering the boats! The other time I saw this was back in Pandin and Yambo Lakes in Laguna where women also paddle the rafts.

On my next post, I will share with you the other exciting things we did at Mekong Delta. If you want to read the rest of my 2010 Asian trip so far, please click: Asian Trip